Conventionally, as a backlight structure for use in a liquid crystal display apparatus, there has been known a side-light-type backlight structure including: an LED module having a plurality of LED (light emitting diode) chips; and a light guide plate that receives, through a side surface thereof, and then emits, through a front surface thereof, the light from the LED module. This conventional backlight structure is fitted with heat dissipation fins on the outside of a rear plate accommodating the LED module and the light guide plate. The heat generated as the LED chips emit light is transferred to the heat dissipation fins via a fixing member fixing the LED module in position, a heat conductive sheet and a heat conductive member, and is then rejected into the air by the heat dissipation fins, thus achieving natural cooling (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Conventionally, a backlight structure using an LED as a light source has been employed in compact electronic appliances such as a PDA (personal digital assistant) and a mobile phone terminal, because the LED emits a comparatively small amount of light, whereas in a backlight structure adopted in large-size electronic appliances such as a monitor apparatus, as a light source, a cold-cathode tube emitting a comparatively large amount of light has been used. Nowadays, however, with the development of high-luminance LEDs, LEDs have come into use in a backlight structure for large-size electronic appliances as well.
Inconveniently, high-luminance LEDs generate a large amount of heat; accordingly, when they are used as light sources in a conventional backlight structure, there arises the problem of insufficient cooling of the light sources.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2006-156324